Mrannah's page

most buildings would not be built to 'fill the square' as much as to create an interesting floorplan layout/dungeon.

i want to give the plot to my current campaign, i think i've created a nice twist on the 'Dragon demands tribute' theme, but i think some of my players may read the boards here, so i'll keep quiet on that until much further along in that compaign.

However, i think one of my favorite earlier campaigns was a world in which an order of well-connected paladins had gotten a bit too self righteous and were imposing a repressive society on anything that wasn't lawful good. (Loosely based on a theme in one of the old Planescape books).

there've been some excellent suggestions here, and one of the ongoing themes is, and should be, presenting the severity and harshness of the aftermath of conflict....of course, this is balanced by the reluctance to just overdo 'gross' in the process. i would like to pop just a few suggestions that in and of themselves don't cross the line, but suggest the enormity of such a raid on a town.

a blood spattered doll or stuffed animal. no indications as to the source of the blood, but a disturbing simple image.

A wounded surviving youth talking about his girlfriend being dragged off by humanoids for unknown purposes while he was immobilized, noting with growing depression that his girlfriend was still alive when they took her away.

an improvised altar to a dark diety with some indications that a hasty sacrifice was performed on it.

from what i was able to gather, the demo may not have a connection capacity. I have the full license myself (you need that for dm functionality), and i have connected to a friend with light license for testing...and have started as DM in one campaign (just started last weekO and played in another campaign so far.

Overall, i have no complaints with the program and its functionality, except as i mentioned in my earlier posts. Yes, the demo really doesn't do much more than let you get used to the interface, but it does let you do that a bit at least. i think that the program is quite possibly the best 40 dollars i've spent on d and d since my dungeon magazine subscription.

The Age of Worms, just like Shackled City, states as published that it is designed for four players. However, just like Shackled City, it presents a reasonable challenge for a larger party (six players to even higher). A few battles will play out easier, and level advancement won't be quite as fast, but otherwise you shouldn't have much problems.

I would recommend, if you have more than six players, to have a few side trek adventures ready at lower levels, keep an eye on the current xp totals (make a running tally at the end of each session to see where the players are, at the least), and stick smaller adventures in between the sections if you see a gap between suggested starting level for the next step and the pcs' current level at the end of the prior. a few non-path adventures sprinkled in the early stages can't hurt anyway, they can be used to give a 'not everything is tied into this plotline' feeling and can help anchor a campaign world feel.

at this time, there isn't a mac applicatoin, though they are talking about it on the discussion boards over there. it can be a bit intensive, and the manual is a bit sparse at this time (there is a jpg on the discussion group of the commands compiled that makes a nice suppliment to the manual).

I think this program is fantastic! it manages to recreate a massive amount of the tabletop experience. You can use any mapping program to make maps to share (and only share parts of as appropriate) and share any pictures as visual aids. You can talk in and out of character, the dm can 'create' npcs and talk through them so there's no confusion who is speaking. If one types in the adventure on the story pages ahead of time, preset blocks of text can be shared with the party, and you can set up whatever background you need. And you have the same ability to 'wing it' when the players do the unexpected (yeah, like THAT happens). It's the closest to playing face to face i've come up with yet. the only limits are typing speed and the lack of a voice chat feature. and frankly....i can do without the voice chat feature, this way, you have on text what everyone says.

The database is editable with some .xml skills so you can customize your rules, and there are a lot of supplimental rulesets out there too if you don't want to edit it yourself.

(a happy customer makes a great commercial)

i bought it as a download. I'm not sure if there is a cd that comes or not. I didn't note an option for a cd, though i have to admit i would have liked one.

i am strangely reminded of the movie galaxina, a cult of people on a remote planet who worshipped a motorcycle and their obscure god 'Hah-lee-David-Sahn'

I use a variation of the savage species one, in which a character can alternate between 'monster' levels and player character levels until he completes his monster levels.

In my system, he has to include one level advance in his monster class in each 'rotation'. In other words, he cannot advance more than one level in any player character class without advancing in his monster class as well by at least one level. In this way, he will complete the monster levels in reasonable rotation, and the player still has the chance to try to develop his other class abilities. One should determine the monster levels using the savage species system, however, because they do keep it balanced, and it does keep the players motivated to complete their monster levels quickly.

A campaign in my own campaign world using my own compositions and existing modules adapted to fit into my campaign world. Base notes for my campaign currently at www.mconner.0catch.com (popup heavy site). Weekly sessions on tuesday nights, using Fantasy Grounds to play. Six players, four attending the first session. Player characters: Bo'rak (Jeff), Orc Rager (optional class from another source, hoping to multiclass with Orc Brawler, from same source.); Bellergal (Mike), Human Wizard; Mordante (Jose), Human Warmage (Complete Arcane); Wulf (Bo), Half-elf (Passing for human) Barbarian (hoping to multiclass with cleric), and not appearing in first session Umbra (Jonathan), Human Rogue (hoping to multi-class with Slayer of Domiel prestige class ((Book of Exalted Deeds)) ); and Durgan (James) Dwarven Monk.

(Initial dungeon a modification of 'dark and stormy knight' from Wizards of the Coast web page adventures)

The four joining in first session met under an overhang, seeking shelter from a storm. In the back of the overhang, they found the opening to a recently uncovered and partially disturbed tomb. The foursome enter the tomb and explore it. They find one room with a giant spider, the body entombed, and a vargouille hiding in another room. During the exploration, they are briefly joined by two hobgoblins, who become agitated when they learn this is not the legendary tomb their band had hoped it would be. The hobgoblins left in a huff, dropping a map to their lair in their agitation. A sword and ring were taken from the body by the party.

The party broke the session with one room in the tomb still unexplored and the aftermath of their looting the tomb still unresolved as they continue to ride out the storm.

This is an issue i've always had with every campaign to some extent. We, DM and players, all know why we're hanging out and exploring together. The players often have less motivation to do so, if any....

Sometimes you may have to be a bit arbitrary as DM, the ideas suggested above are all valid, and good ideas for this campaign.

Always in an ongoing campaign, though, i find the best motivator is to never close one 'module' without nice hints to some extent of the bigger picture, some hint, however, vague, that there is more to do...the other connections of the Triad in this case for one thing...

you're right, even if you ignore the Age of Worms sections in these two issues, we have four absolutely fabulous adventures here, each with a unique flavor and style.

I'm hoping to have some money soon to get a suppliment to help me with NPCs and the like, but it seems to me like these two products tend to do the same thing, just different approaches. Or am I missing something, here? If they are working at the same purpose, which one would anyone here recommend?

as it stands as of the end of the tenth suppliment, there is a hint that the PCs may be living up to their destiny as descendents of the Vaati, or their stewards. The nature of this, if anything, is left open at this point, and it harkens to the fate vs. free will concept, as i see it. You can take it or not, as you wish, as the person who presents this information in the adventure is expressing his own theory (granted, its based on this individual's unexpected 'growth'), but as with many aspects of this campaign, it's up to the PCs to determine (barring further developments on this angle in the last two chapters)

i would tend to agree to that. refer to the mirror in the same module--quoting 'once per day, for a period of 10 minutes, it can be commanded to show the true form of a creature that is physically disguising its shape (it has the power to penetrate illusions).'

now by this, it is seems that it is an illusion, but one that is physical in nature. using supernatural ability the doppelganger alters its physical composition, and then maintains it, somewhat akin to a human holding a specific facial expression.

at least, that's my take on it.

of course, that raises the question, does a doppelganger doing a long-term assumption of form revert to normal when sleeping and/or relaxing? or does it require ongoing effort?

i haven't started my Age of Worms campaign yet, but i've been mulling this one over. I think i may just spring it kind of as written, except that no one, including the player in question, will be sure who is and who isn't a doppelganger in that nice confrontation. when they walk in, the pcs will, for all they know, be looking at a group of all doppelgangers...but not certain.

I have to admit, that over the years, i bought a lot of campaign settings, and while Greyhawk does have a lot of supporters, and a lot of wonderful things came out of the Greyhawk line, most of those things can be transplanted over into any other campaign world with very little tweaking. A lot of good campaigns were set aside and support dropped that had unique feels and styles. Greyhawk comes across as a somewhat generic european feel because it really didn't push any sense of culture in spite of a large number of interacting countries.

Dark Sun had a feeling of culture and difference that hit you from page one of the books and the first gaming session. Planescape took something from the initial books, and made a campaign world that, while some seemed indifferent to, i found totally absorbing and fascinating, and worth deep exploration. Ravenloft managed to add a feel to d and d that had usually only been hinted at before. I have to admit that i never got into Mystara, so i never got the handle on them.

Forgotten Realms did get a full novel line going, and yes, this was a part of how they became successful, but Dragonlance did that as well, and its world was every bit as unique, and it didn't fare as well in support.

Part of it, as much as whether or not it sells well, could well be a business decision based on who one has to interact with to maintain licenses. Greyhawk was originally dropped by TSR because of the falling out between TSR and Gygax, the nature of which is no one's business but theirs, but it had a major impact on the game. I suspect that sales and licensing issues were combined in every decision on which campaign worlds were supported and which were allowed to languish.

But all of them are still out there, and all of them are still playable.

And my campaign world uses aspects of many of them, as appropriate. (end ramble)

even though there was only the one appearance by that particular group, it is a group that a DM can work into their campaign as an ongoing group of baddies. I personally kind of like the idea of using the 'black egg' adventure as their last appearance, but that's just me.

And I'll always remember it for one of the neatest 'dragon tricks' I've ever seen, bar none (her way of getting a sneak attack with her breath weapon...I won't spoil it for any players reading this thread who may run into it later). In fact, the 'main baddie' dragon in my campaign has a similar 'meeting place' in her lair for player characters. Being a red, it won't work quite as well for her, but....ah...what a fabulous surprise for pcs.

I have to admit that, although i enjoyed reading the entries, at first, i wasn't overly impressed with the Age of Worms. Part of it was a bit of apprehension about Kyuss himself, as his spawn were never my favorite undead creatures. But i've enjoyed them, and i sat down and reread all of them (so far) back to back, and when viewed as a whole, i have to admit that i like the Age of Worms a lot. I think it's a fantastic campaign, and i look forward to dming it in the near future. hell, i wouldn't mind playing it, though that's always a challenge, trying to play a campaign that i've read objectively.

Paizo has, in my opinion, matched and exceeded the Shackled City, no small feat. Cauldron has a sense of single setting feeling that the Age of Worms doesn't quite, but the Age of Worms has a chance for the players to grow as individuals against one amazing backdrop and a feeling of being involved in something truly epic.

in my case, i game using the program fantasy grounds, and the map can be 'masked' and unveiled bit by bit. similarly, there have been discussions on the fantasy grounds boards of folks using this feature, the dm using one computer and a networked 'player' computer displaying the map a bit at a time for the players.

just one of many possible ways to display the map nowadays.

I use fantasy grounds too, i haven't set up for SC. Still haven't read it all yet, because i hope to get into a group and play in it someday.

just got my copy of 133 (three days after it was mailed, and exactly one week after i got my copy of 132), and the map on p 75 appears to be missing a number. I'm pretty sure that the room the connects to rooms 9,11,12, and 13 is the missing room 10. The ladder alluded to in the text, however, is not shown, either, and i'm trying to figure just where the ladder is supposed to be, so that it connects to the fourth level, and where on the fourth level it connects.

otherwise, another fabulous issue!!

This fits definitely into the category, and i've always loved it, but at the same time, because of the tone of the piece, i'm not sure how some will feel about my suggestion for this...but...

I've always loved the duel in the comedy version of the Raven, directed by Corman, between Vincent Price's Dr. Craven and Boris Karloff's Dr. Scarabus. The effects are cheesy to a point, the humor overdone at moments, but there are also some great moments in it. The swirl of the palm to make a shield in the air that hangs in a glow, the magic darts from a jerked pointing of a finger, the bat turned into a fan, the snake turned into a kerchief...the false death (sawdust)....

funny but good.

if memory serves me, there is an insectile ogre mage in an adventure found on the Wizards of the Coast site...just doublechecked.... the url is

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030629a

the adventure is called 'fallen angel', you can download the pdf from that url, and it has insectile ogres. (There are some very nice dungeons, most of them fairly brief, in that section.)

Dear Dungeon (now there's a letter opener, huh?):

I've been a long-time player of dungeons and dragons, beginning my playing of the game the month that Dragon #37 hit the stands. I have been away from the game for a long time due to some family issues and the loss of my entire collection up to that point in a house fire some years back. All that changed just a few months ago, much to my delight. I found an old copy of Dungeon #116 at a news stand, and i brought it home (why they had a copy of it on their stand almost a year after the appropriate month...that's a statement to how bad a news stand it is...). My budget has only allowed me to do so much, but reading that issue reminded me of all the joy that D and D, and Dungeon Magazine, and Dragon Magazine, have all brought me. I have bought several of the rule books, have many more on my 'to get' list, and picked up every issue of Dungeon subsequent to then, and went to ebay and bought a lot of the preceding issues.

I am delighted at the scope and content of every issue I've read. Even when I find a module that is not appropriate for play in my upcoming campaign, I find material worth review, consideration, and thought. I find myself rethinking how many aspects of my campaign will unfold, and I'm reviewing some of my ideas to submit to Dungeon in the future, if I can bring things to a state I feel warrants submission (rambling, sorry).

Even though the Age of Worms Adventure Path has many aspects that I don't care for, (never cared much for Kyuss' guys before), you are presenting this very well, and I'm loving reading it, and watching it unfold. I can't tell you how much I enjoy the magazine, and hope it continues at this level quality forever.

If I were going to make any suggestions, (besides keeping your eyes open for my submission when I send it *g*) I think I'd say that i would like to see a few more of the high end modules to take the upper edge of the high end, I haven't seen a whole lot for the 18, 19, and 20 level parties.

Michael Conner
Dallas Texas

The SCAP is designed for 6 characters, so no need to make any changes.

I just pulled my copies of the dungeon magazines in which the SCAP appeared (which is what i'm using at this point,) and the notes clearly indicate that SCAP was designed for a 4 character party. Was it tweaked to a 6 character party in the conversion to the bound volume, or am I missing something else?

I will concede that it would be easy to play it as a reasonable challenge for up to a 6 character party, but the magainzes themselves belie the statement that Talon made earlier...

just curious

as I understand it, Vhalantru picks up Terrem before the players can (or should) be able to interact. This is a sequence where the party is an observer. Terrem may not be happy about it, but he has been kidnapped and made very aware he is about to be sold as a slave. The beholder coming up to claim him like this may not fully register on him too well. Terrem is supposed to be a kid with a lot of attitude (I do recall a quick description of him as being surly, but historically, who asks a slave who that slave gets to go off with?) The party may not be happy about Terrem 'getting away' before he can be rescued, but that is to be soothed by his presence, apparently free, back at the orphanage, when the party returns to Cauldron.

As I understood the hints about those bearing the sign, they have a predisposition to evil personalities (or at least mental instability, as evidenced by the only other bearing the sign that the player characters directly interact with before they are caged at the Tree).

And when all the Shackleborn are taken later, this has to create a bit of a conflict, especially considering how they're found.....I've wondered how many parties go to the effort of trying to bring these folks back once the crisis is averted.

Long story, I have my own campaign world, but I am considering submitting some works to Dungeon Magazine for consideration, and would like to include appropriate notes for conversion to Eberron, Greyhawk and Faerun settings. I have, however, been out of touch for a few years and am reaquiring some books, and have none of the current hardcover sourcebooks for the Forgotten Realms. The Campaign setting book from a few years back was 3.0 edition, would that be a good point for such conversions, or should i look to the more recent players guide, or some of the other sourcebooks, and if that, which would you recommend?

thanks for your consideration on this, folks.